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dunglehausen

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Complete computer shutdown while adding comments in MS Word 2003

My computer is shutting down while I am inserting a comment in MS Word 2003.  I am given no warning and the screen goes completely black as if I had held the power button.  Then it will not allow restarting until it is ready, between 5-45 seconds.  Sometimes if I leave when it shuts down it will not turn itself back on but in most cases it will restart.

I have a HP zd7310us that has been back and forth to the warranty repair shop 4 times now.  First for a new screen, then a new motherboard, then a new battery and power supply then a new case because it was damaged by one of the repair men.  Each repair taking at least 2 weeks.  

Before it went in for a new motherboard, battery and power supply it was shutting down and restarting on a random basis.  At that time I had not realized that the problem was only in Word.  I have performed many tests to prove that it is only word that is the problem by running many CPU hungry programs at the same time for long periods of time with no issues.  I have even run the temperature way up with no shut downs.  But I have also tested running only word for days on end and with no shutdowns.  But no matter how long it has run (3days or 20secs) if I insert a comment the computer instantly shuts down.

I have repaired both windows and office to no avail, then reinstalled office again with no change.  I have tested the same .doc files on other computers with no issues during comment insertion, so this issue is limited to this computer.

I have scanned for viruses with Norton, MS defender, Ad Aware, AVG 7.1, and I run zone alarm, all with current updates.  All say that all is good.  

Here is also a very interesting tidbit.  I started up the event logging for shutdowns, all of the scheduled shutdowns are recorded perfectly while the sudden shutdowns are not recorded at all.  The event viewer looks like this:

Just before shutdown-
Product: Windows Operating System
Event ID: 7036
Source: Service Control Manager
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: EVENT_SERVICE_STATUS_SUCCESS
Message: The %1 service entered the %2 state.

At Reboot-
Product: Windows Operating System
Event ID: 6009
Source: EventLog
Version: 5.2
Symbolic Name: EVENT_EventLogProductInfo
Message: Microsoft (R) Windows (R) %1 %2 %3 %4.

This event log should have come out as a 1075 event number.  It is actually rare to see even the 6009 event recorded in the event log, there is usually just a time lag and then booting events.

Computer info:
OS Name      Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Version      5.1.2600 Service Pack 2 Build 2600
OS Manufacturer      Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer      Hewlett-Packard
System Model      Pavilion zd7310us
System Type      X86-based PC
Processor      x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2992 Mhz
Processor      x86 Family 15 Model 2 Stepping 9 GenuineIntel ~2992 Mhz
BIOS Version/Date      Hewlett-Packard F.35, 10/14/2004
SMBIOS Version      2.31
Windows Directory      C:\WINDOWS
System Directory      C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device      \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale      United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer      Version = "5.1.2600.2180 (xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158)"
Total Physical Memory      1,024.00 MB
Available Physical Memory      379.86 MB
Total Virtual Memory      2.00 GB
Available Virtual Memory      1.96 GB
Page File Space      2.40 GB
Page File      C:\pagefile.sys

I hope that the huge amount of info is helpful and not daunting.
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dunglehausen

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Thank you ahead of time I know this one is not going to be easy.
Hi dunglehausen,

what happens if you open word in save mode
1. hold down the ctrl key while starting Word

else you can look at the acceleration settings for your graphics card
2. i know this FAQ is for Powerpoint but the instructions are general windows >http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm

hope this helps a bit
bruintje
bruintje,

That was superfast thank you very much.  So here is the outcome of the Safe mode.  I opened a .doc file and posted a comment with no issues but I realized that the commenting was in the baloon mode that I do not use in the normal mode of word.  So I went to Show>ballons> Never and opened review pane.  I started entering a comment and instant shutdown.  What the heck is that all about?

I am goign to look at this graphics card link you gave me.

Thank you again,
dunglehausen
another thing you can look at is the troubleshooting guide by another expert here dopyiii
http://howtotroubleshoot.blogspot.com/#113035503245630446
Hi bruintje,

I have completed a couple levels of turning down the graphics acceleration.  The first tiem I set it down the shutdown paused but it still came.  I turned off the acceleration and it did not shutdown but everything was very slow. refresh took forever so I sped it up to just under half way, and it shutdown right away during commenting.  Now with the slider set at one notch on the accelerator, it failed right away again.  Computer beeped a couple times while rebooting.
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Brian Mulder
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I am sorry for not being clear on this.  Word starts in Safe mode without any problems.  But its default setup for comments is in balloon mode which is not very widely used amongest the people I pass files around to.  In safe mode I entered a comment in in the balloon mode with no failure.  I switched to Viewer Pane mode while still in safe mode and began to enter a comment when the computer shut off instantly.  This shows that the safe mode does not cure the issue.  

Because this problem is limited to my machine I have changed over to balloons and I was able to get some work done last night but it would be nice to operate in the Viewer pane.  I will follow the troubleshhooting blog to see if anything helps.
Ok, after going through all of the different options put before me between here and the troubleshooting blog the problem is worse.  Now Word will shut down the computer when all I am doing is typing, no comments no special anything just typing.  Random shutdown is killing me.  Someone please help!
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I am sorry to say that none of this worked.  I have recently been given the opportunity to test the Office 2007 beta and it has not had this issue since I installed it.  I have been running Word continuously and there have not been any issues (knock on wood).  I know that I hammer on this program but I didn't think that it would result in this type of outcome.  

All of the fixes were great ideas and most seemed to have fixed the issue at first glance but then started failing again.  Thank goodness for whatever change Microsoft made.